How 240 young Hackneyites ‘will lose out’ from the housing benefit cut for the young

Hackneyites relaxing at a food fest: the housing issue leaves a bad taste in the mouth

Dave Raval: Youngsters are being abandoned

THE HOUSING CRISIS is a huge problem in Hackney so the Liberal Democrats deserve praise for standing up for young people who need help with their rental bills.

The LibDems report that more than 240 Hackney young people will lose out from the Conservative government’s decision to strip 18 t0 21 year-olds of housing benefit.

The yellow-ribboned folk’s digging in the House of Commons library revealed, they say, that Hackney North and Stoke Newington is the second-worst-affected constituency in England. Ending the benefit could, say charities, push more young people on to the streets. The LibDems add that the cuts are likely to cost taxpayers more than the policy change will save.

Joe Richards: cut will cost taxpayers more than it can save

Local parliamentary candidates Dave Raval (Hackney South and Shoreditch) and Joe Richards (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) say in a joint statement: “Vulnerable youngsters with nowhere to turn are being abandoned by this Conservative government.”

A Liberal Democrat government would restore the benefit.

Hackney South MP Meg Hillier comments that last month Labour was the first to demand that Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond reverse the “cruel” decision to withdraw housing benefit from 18 to 21 year-olds in his“disastrous” March 2017 Budget.

She adds: “It is unacceptable and in a borough like Hackney with a young population and high private-sector rents, it hits particularly hard. I will be fighting to get it reversed.

“Tory Ministers should hang their heads in shame.”

For the Greens, Alastair Binnie-Lubbock said: “The Greens will introduce rent controls and a huge council-housebuilding programme, as well as scraping tuition fees, and will reintroduce the education maintenance grants.”

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